What I Wish I Had Known About Tylenol

Acetaminophen is the most common drug ingredient in America. You’ll find it in more than 600 over-the-counter and prescription medications. Research suggests this popular analgesic may come with a price to our health. Find out what I wish I had known about Tylenol.

When my kids were young, doctors prescribed Tylenol readily, encouraging us to alternate with ibuprofen when needed. I didn’t think twice about this until our health crisis in 2008. (Read our story here.) I learned to ask questions about every aspect of medical care, including over-the-counter remedies like Tylenol.

What is Acetaminophen?

Acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol or APAP, is a medication used to treat pain and fever. The trademark Tylenol comes from the chemical term N-aceTYL-p-aminophENOL.

Acetaminophen is derived from coal tar and is the only coal tar medication on the market today. Phenacetin, also derived from coal tar, was banned by the FDA in 1983. Coal tar contains more than 10,000 chemicals. Once derived from coal, coal tar is now more commonly derived from petroleum. Coal tar mixtures are classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization.

How does Tylenol work?

Acetaminophen appears to work by inhibiting the synthesis of prostaglandins in the central nervous system. Prostaglandins serve some protective functions in the body, but they can also produce pain and fever. Acetaminophen differs from other pain relievers in that it doesn’t possess anti-inflammatory properties. Its appeal stems from its gentleness on the stomach and intestinal lining as opposed to ibuprofen or aspirin.

It is now widely known that while acetaminophen may help reduce pain or fever, it also depletes glutathione, a key player when it comes to detoxification in the body.

The Toxicity of Acetaminophen

Too much acetaminophen can damage or destroy the liver. According to the Food and Drug Administration, exceeding the maximum recommended dose of acetaminophen (four thousand milligrams per day) can cause serious liver injury—even death. Acetaminophen overdose is one of the most common poisonings worldwide. The FDA estimates that overdoses were linked to 56,000 emergency room visits, 26,000 hospitalizations, and 458 deaths from 1990-1998. According to FDA findings, overdoses occur because:

Consumers may attempt to treat different conditions or symptoms at the same time with more than one product containing acetaminophen. They may not realize that acetaminophen is in each of those products and that they are at risk of acetaminophen overdose.

With more than 600 prescription and over-the-counter medications containing acetaminophen, it’s easy to imagine that consumers can unknowingly overdose. Examples of OTC medications that contain acetaminophen include:

Alka-Seltzer Plus Liquid Gels

Anacin

Cepacol

Coricidin

DayQuil

Dimetapp

Dristan

Midol

NyQuil

Robitussin

Sinutab

Sudafed

Theraflu

The Liver Foundation’s Acetaminophen Awareness Coalition lists more medications in the article Common Medicines with Acetaminophen. The chart below lists common forms of acetaminophen and dosages.

What Do the Studies Show?

Not only does acetaminophen have known toxicity, it is also now known that it crosses the placenta and blood-brain barrier. Acetaminophen has been associated with:

What’s more, recent evidence suggests that acetaminophen is a hormone disruptor (i.e., it interferes with reproductive and thyroid hormone function—see this relevant study) and may trigger wheezing or asthma in the offspring of mothers who take acetaminophen during pregnancy (relevant study here).

One of the most stunning studies to date involved close to 50,000 pregnant women in Norway. The 2013 cohort study found that:

Children exposed to prenatal paracetamol for more than 28 days had poorer gross motor development, communication, externalizing behavior, internalizing behavior, and higher activity levels . . . Ibuprofen exposure was not associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Studies also link autism spectrum disorder with acetaminophen use during pregnancy.

A 2016 study found that acetaminophen may dull not just our pain but also our empathy. In two double-blind placebo-controlled experiments, participants rated perceived pain, personal distress, and empathetic concern after reading stories with sad scenarios.

As hypothesized, acetaminophen reduced empathy in response to others’ pain. Acetaminophen also reduced the unpleasantness of noise blasts delivered to the participant, which mediated acetaminophen’s effects on empathy. Together, these findings suggest that the physical painkiller acetaminophen reduces empathy for pain and provide a new perspective on the neurochemical bases of empathy.

I wish I had known all of this when my kids were young. All I can do now is use my knowledge to propel me forward. For now, I’ll keep acetaminophen out of our medicine cabinet, stick with ibuprofen when necessary, and continue to explore natural pain remedies when the need arises.

Dr. Ann Bauer specializes in the developmental effects of analgesics, with a particular emphasis on acetaminophen. In this episode of The Connecting Place, Dr. Bauer shares how one conversation over lunch turned the course of her career.

Comments

Ok, this us very unnerving. My chiropractor has me on 1250mg a day. If my pain is really bad, I’m to double it. I have a herniated disc, sciatica & periformis syndrome which I’ve suffered with four 5 years. I’ve had every treatment I can afford as I am uninsured. It seems everything & anything is harmful to us. ..yikes!

I so understand what you’re saying, Nicole. Everything seems harmful. Knowledge is still better I believe and ultimately empowering. I’m sorry for your journey. I hope you find some relief and answers.

Tellurium, a homeopathic remedy known to help ringworm, is actually a wonderful remedy for back injuries. Also, if you continue to subluxate after adjustments, the source is likely emotional. Bach flower remedies are good for this. Back issues can also be caused by vaccine injury, so even a vaccine detox may help? (Listen to the first podcast of “Homeopathy for Mommies” to learn how to use homeopathic remedies:)

P.S. Thank you for this post, Andrea! Tylenol has still been my go for the occasional bad headache, even though I don’t like it. Looks like that should change…

Try to find a NUCCA chiropractor. Their approach to health is so much different than a regular chiropractor. Most of them advocate the use of natural pain relief methods over medication. I have seen one for over 20 years. I am off of all pain medication entireley. My life is just consistently better under his care.

I have been to a NUCCA chiro also and it is quite different from regular chiro treatment. I admit I was skeptical but fifteen minutes after my first adjustment, I was a convert!! It works better for me than typical chiro care.

I am shocked a chiropractor would recommend that and I would find a new one ASAP! Save your money 🙂 fwiw you can heal yourself, you just have to do some research. Earthclinic.com and Curezone.com are fabulous places to get ideas of what others have used for their health challenges. You CAN achieve pain free with high doses of vitamin c, and or turmeric as just 2 suggestions .Dr. Zoltan Rona is an MD in Toronto – read and watch anything you can find from him – here is his pain info http://vitalitymagazine.com/article/pain-relief/ . ALSO Turmeric User Group on Facebook is run by veteranarian Dr. Doug English – the testimonials for people AND animals are profound!! Old, young – their pain is vanishing. NOT curcumin – but turmeric, coconu oil and fresh ground black pepper- easy to make and he explains why this combination is necessary for pain relief. FWIW my husband had debilitating sciatica, mri showed herniated disc. We tried it all for almost a year – inversion table therapy, B12 therapy, magnesium transdermal therapy, internal magnesium, herbal treatment, homeopathy, dehydration correction (this can cause back pain and sciatica! 3 chiropractors, physio 3x a week, massage therapy, reiki. He couldn’t sit, he slept on his nose with his butt in the air, he owned his own company but couldn’t work- he managed to drive and get his crews on the road, but he couldn’t lift anything even the baby, driving was debilitating and he was in excruciating pain every day. I knew about vitamin c and he was on 8 packs of Lypospheric vitamin c from livonlabs, when I read this article below – I told him to take more. He sadi I’m already taking lots – I said TAKE MORE. …what have we got to lose, if you can’t work we will be bankrupt- we can’t afford not to try. He went to 15 packs a day. (sodium ascorbate is what I take because it is much cheaper – up to 20 grams a day – read up on it – he stomach was very sensitive and back then he couldn’t take even 1/2 tsp without it causing diarreah, so we used the lypo C- now he can take the powdered sodium ascorbate in large doses no problem. Anyhow, Within 48 hours he was sitting at the table first time that year- within 3 months he tapered off the C and has never had to go back on it – that was 5 years ago. ot sure if I sent this one…. snip: PAIN RELIEF
Very high doses of vitamin C provide prompt and profound pain relief. Low doses will not work. http://www.doctoryourself.com/pain.html
DoctorYourself.com – Pain Relief Without Drugs
Chronic pain that is unresponsive to other measures may be effectively treated with an amino acid. Safety and dosage information is provided, with medical references.
doctoryourself.com
snip: “Cameron and Baird reported (in 1973) that the first five ascorbate-treated patients who had been receiving large doses of morphine or heroin to control pain were taken off these drugs a few days after the treatment with vitamin C was begun, because the vitamin C seemed to diminish the pain to such an extent that the drug was not needed. Moreover, none of these patients asked that the morphine or heroin be given to them- they seemed not to experience any serious withdrawal signs or symptoms.” (Cameron and Pauling, Cancer and Vitamin C (1981; revised 1993): page xii)
and one more… LOL Any vitamin that approaches the pain relieving power of opiates must be considered some kind of analgesic indeed. Although quite a lot of vitamin C is needed for results, it is a remarkably safe and rather simple therapy.
omg here is a snip of it : scroll down to bottom
SPINAL STENOSIS AND RELATED PAINFUL BACK PROBLEMS

“I was disabled to the point of being unable to put on my own socks and underwear. My 4- and 8-year-old sons had to help me get dressed every day.” (For the rest of this case story, please scroll down nearly to the bottom of this page.)

VITAMIN C
A lack of vitamin C is specifically involved in the cause and progression of chronic back problems such as sciatica and spinal stenosis. The premise is basic: long-term inadequacy of vitamin C causes weak spinal disks.

Without enough vitamin C, the body is unable to make collagen, the protein glue that holds cells together. When the cells of a cartilaginous intervertebral disk are not holding together, the disk will degenerate, rupture, herniate, or “slip.” There is a lot of body weight on the bones of your lower back. When you flex and move, and the disks are weak or worn down, the bones can compress nerves emerging from the sides. If only one or two disks are involved, it may result in the characteristic back and leg pain called sciatica.

STENOSIS
It is worse if multiple vertebrae are involved. Without healthy disks to prevent it, the center spinal channel can gradually stenose, or narrow. This channel is very important: it is the hollow through which your nerve superhighway, the spinal cord, runs. Squeezing or kinking the spinal cord means pain and problems. Try watering your garden when a cow is standing with its hoof on your garden hose.

While spinal stenosis is sometimes congenital or caused by a tumor, by far the most common form is acquired stenosis. The usual way one “acquires” it is through injury, or osteoarthritis, or both.

OSTEOARTHRITIS
Inadequate vitamin C also causes the cushioning cartilage in your joints to deteriorate, roughen, and wear ever thinner. As the cartilage degenerates, bone scrapes on bare bone with each movement. That is osteoarthritis.

BONE SPURS
In the absence of cartilage padding, bone may begin to grow (spur) in the joints of the spine. This is probably the body’s attempt to brace up and splint the vertebrae and limit the movement that is causing pain. Unfortunately, bone spurring can narrow the spinal canal and painfully squeeze the spinal cord in the center. If bone spurs form in the little joints (facets) of the sides of the vertebrae, the nerve roots at the sides get pinched.

SPONDYLOLISTHESIS
Without enough vitamin C to maintain their strength, ligaments can degenerate, thicken, and lose their elasticity. This too may narrow the spinal canal. If disks and ligaments are especially weak, lower-back (lumbar) vertebrae can slide over each other and squish nerves.

All of the above conditions have a common causal factor: inadequate vitamin C. The good news is that they can all be significantly helped by administering large quantities of the nutrient.

VITAMIN TREATMENT
Doctors have seen many research studies on drug therapy, but very few on megavitamin therapy. This does not mean that vitamin therapy will not help; it means that vitamin therapy has not been applied.

Well, not quite. One of the great proponents of massive dose vitamin C therapy was Dr. Robert F. Cathcart III, an orthopedic surgeon. One might want to think on that for a long moment. Cathcart, the inventor of a widely used hip replacement prosthetic, advocated doses of vitamin C, often in excess of 100,000 mg per day, to reduce severe inflammation. In decades of practice, he safely and effectively administered such treatment to tens of thousands of patients. Many had arthritis, back pain, or injury; some had ankylosing spondylitis. http://www.doctoryourself.com/titration.html

In scanning Cathcart’s work, one notices that none of his papers are expressly devoted to “treatment of chronic back problems with vitamin C.” Patients and doctors may therefore be tempted to walk away from this line of inquiry. Yet vitamin C is an important and overlooked key to understanding sciatica and spinal stenosis, and doing something non-surgical about it.

One question, of course, is whether vitamin C can actually rebuild cartilage. The answer is this: cartilage cannot be made without it. The odds greatly favor taking Dr Cathcart’s advice over the “just eat a balanced diet for your vitamin C” line that you so often hear.

One of the biggest surprises in analgesia occurred during the 1970’s in Scotland at the Vale of Leven Hospital. There, Ewan Cameron, M.D. was giving ten grams (10,000 milligrams) of vitamin C intravenously each day to terminally ill patients. In Great Britain at the time, it was acceptable to provide terminal patients with any and all pain relief available, including addictive narcotics such as heroin.

“Cameron and Baird reported (in 1973) that the first five ascorbate-treated patients who had been receiving large doses of morphine or heroin to control pain were taken off these drugs a few days after the treatment with vitamin C was begun, because the vitamin C seemed to diminish the pain to such an extent that the drug was not needed. Moreover, none of these patients asked that the morphine or heroin be given to them- they seemed not to experience any serious withdrawal signs or symptoms.” (Cameron and Pauling, Cancer and Vitamin C (1981; revised 1993): page xii)

Any vitamin that approaches the pain relieving power of opiates must be considered some kind of analgesic indeed. Although quite a lot of vitamin C is needed for results, it is a remarkably safe and rather simple therapy.

TOBACCO SMOKING
Smokers are in a constant state of vitamin C deficiency. Do not let anyone tell you differently.

It is not difficult to see why smokers are much more likely to have serious disk and back problems. What really is difficult to understand is

1) how very few physicians order their back-surgery candidates to stop smoking
2) how very few physicians order their smoking patients to take vitamin C supplements
3) how almost no physician offers high-dose vitamin C therapy as a treatment option

More patients would stop cigarettes, and start vitamin C, if they knew why they absolutely had to.

In massive doses, vitamin C (ascorbic acid) strengthens cartilage, reduces inflammation and relieves pain. Your doctor may not believe this, but it unless you consult a shaman, your health care should not be a matter of belief.

ABOUT “OBJECTIONS” TO VITAMIN C MEGADOSES
Many people wonder why the medical professions have not embraced vitamin C therapy with open and grateful arms. Probably the main roadblock to widespread examination and utilization of this all-too-simple technology is the equally widespread idea that there MUST be unknown dangers to tens of thousands of milligrams of ascorbic acid. Yet, since the time megascorbate therapy was introduced in the late 1940’s by board-certified chest specialist Fred R. Klenner, M.D. http://www.doctoryourself.com/klennerpaper.html , there has been a surprisingly safe and effective track record of physician reports for one to follow.

When an experienced orthopedic surgeon such as Dr. Cathcart chose to give patients huge amounts of vitamin C, it is time to ask why your physicians have not. There are many possible excuses, none of which should be accepted without examining the evidence.

Other mistakenly-believed “side effects” of vitamin C have been found to be completely mythical. According to a NIH report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (April 21, 1999), NONE of the following problems are caused by taking “too much vitamin C”:

Allegations of Hypoglycemia
Allegations of Rebound scurvy
Allegations of Infertility
Allegations of Destruction of vitamin B-12

Hundreds of thousands of Americans suffer from lower back (lumbar) spinal stenosis, which is now the most common indication for surgery for those over 60. Vitamin therapy is safer than drug or surgical treatment. There is very little to lose, and very much to gain, by trying high-dose vitamin C therapy in advance of, or along with, conventional treatment.

OTHER NUTRIENTS
Dr. Cathcart and other orthomolecular (nutritional) physicians usually give patients additional nutrients along with megadose vitamin C therapy.

Vitamin B12
B12 may help with injury and with spinal stenosis, although the dose probably needs to be much higher than 0.5 mg given orally three times daily in this study:

Glucosamine sulfate also helps your body rebuild cartilage. And, it relieves pain about as well as ibuprofen does. 1500 mg/day is a common therapeutic dose.

Ruane R, Griffiths P. Glucosamine therapy compared to ibuprofen for joint pain.
Br J Community Nurs. 2002 Mar;7(3):148-52. ”Glucosamine’s pain-relieving effects may be due to its cartilage-rebuilding properties; these disease-modifying effects are not seen with simple analgesics and are of particular benefit. In practice glucosamine can be used as an alternative to anti-inflammatory drugs and analgesics or as a useful adjunct to standard analgesic therapy.” PMID: 11904551

Both chondroitin and glucosamine have been shown clinically to be exceptionally safe.

IT IS NOT JUST THE PLACEBO EFFECT, EITHER
Since these substances work for horses, they might work for you.

OTHER NUTRIENTS
Vitamins D and E, the mineral selenium, the omega-3 fatty acids (“fish oil”) and gamma-linoleic acid (GLA) are very important, too. A search for any of these using the “Search” box at the DoctorYourself.com main page will bring up more information.

“In 2004, I was disabled to the point of being unable to put on my own socks and underwear. My 4- and 8-year-old sons had to help me get dressed every day. For three months, my wife had to help me get off the floor in the morning, because I was unable to lie down in our bed. I couldn’t drive, fly in a plane, or even sit in a chair. I had lost the ability to function normally. My condition was diagnosed as sciatica, which in my case was the result of a bulging disc in my lower back pressing on nearby nerves. This pressure inflamed the nerves. As a result, I experienced debilitating pain in my lower back, legs and feet. Bluntly speaking, I was disabled.
Doctoryourself.com – Titration
What is the effective dose of vitamin C needed for serious diseases? Dr. Cathcart has treated over 20,000 patients using this protocol.
doctoryourself.com

All these things help. Sitting at a computer does not! Gentle yoga and tai chi for arthritis are great – I’ve loaned the cd’s out before. People swear by cryotherapy, though I have not tried that. I am happy with essential oils & so are many people who I told about them; they have greatly helped my quality of life. Cool Azul Pain Relief gel is a new one by Young Living (I haven’t tried it yet but already love the YL blend called Deep Relief).

Wow, so good to know!!! Now I am really glad I resisted taking acetaminophen all those times I was tempted. And SOOOO thankful my pain is far, far less now. But when I was really sick, I needed all the glutathione I could get–didn’t need something depleting it!!! Nor the other bad effects.

Original Anacin and Sudafed do NOT contain acetaminophen. When purchasing analgesics and nasal decongestants, always check the ingredients. Make sure the Anacin you buy contains aspirin and caffeine ONLY; stay from the “advanced headache formula,” which also contains acetaminophen. When purchasing Sudafed, make certain the only active ingredient is pseudoephedrine.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment

Name *

Email *

Website

MEET ANDREA

I am a certified Building Biology Advocate, a former journalist, mother of nine, and avid CrossFitter who likes to think outside the box. After our family's health crisis in 2008, I learned to ask questions about what's in our food, our water, and our air. I hope to empower you as you seek to live safely in a complex world. Thankfully, small steps lead to big changes. Let's travel this road together, one step at a time.

Follow

Now Available on Amazon

10 Things I’ve Learned (The Hard Way)

1. The answer may be right in front of you.
2. Time is often the best medicine.
3. Speak kindly to yourself.
4. The air we breathe matters.
5. It's better to know than not know.
6. Relinquishment is a balm for the soul.
7. Symptoms will instruct if we listen.
8. Sometimes you're the expert.
9. Allow hindsight to move you forward.
10. The next step is enough.